Alex Hribal Was Desperate and Said He Wanted Someone to Kill Him

by Mike Roche

Last Wednesday, Alex Hribal, age 16, entered Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, PA. He was armed with two kitchen knives and began indiscriminately stabbing other students prior to the start of the school day. By the time Hribal was subdued, twenty-one students and one security guard were injured. A knife?

It is not the first time that a knife or some weapon other than a gun was used in a school attack. In November 2012, a suspect entered a classroom at Casper Community College in Casper, Wyoming. The suspect was armed with a crossbow. A teacher was killed at the hands of his own son, who then took his own life. In December 2012, in Chenpeng, China, a 36-year-old armed with a machete stabbed 23 children and an elderly woman. Fortunately, all of the victims survived. In April 2013, Dylan Quick, a student at Lone Star College in Cyprus, Texas, used a razor edged weapon to wound 14 students. Quick, who is hearing-impaired, was described by neighbors as being a nice, quiet boy. He apparently also harbored visions of committing mass murder for many years.

In the case of Alex Hribal, some students dismissed initial reports of bullying being a factor. Hribal’s attorney also initially denied such concerns. The attorney, Patrick Thomassey, described the suspect, “He’s a typical young kid. He’s a B+ student. The family is like Ozzie and Harriet. They have dinner together every night. All the students liked him. He wasn’t a loner. He worked well in groups, and this happened. So there’s a reason for it. And we have to get to the bottom of that.” As the investigation continues, we will learn more of the mindset of Hribal, and what was hidden behind his public façade. It was reported that he did not have a cellphone and had minimal activity on Facebook. For a teenager, this abnormal behavior is similar to being a digital hermit.

Another student, Alicia Graham, told reporters that a screen shot of a disturbing Facebook posting by another student calling Alex Hribal a “rat face” was turned over to police. The degrading statement was posted the night before the stabbing and quickly removed after the attack.

Bullying has long been an issue in schools. Today, bullying has expanded to cyberspace and impacts the victims being tormented in social media and through direct access on their cell phones. Victims of bullying suffer tremendous humiliation and a lowering of self-esteem. Depression is closely correlated with those who are victims of ongoing bullying campaigns. In the Secret Service study of school shooters, 71% of the suspects claimed that they had been the victims of bullying.

Dr. William Pollock of Harvard University has extensively studied the impact of bullying specifically on boys. His studies have led him to coin the term “boy code” which describes the inherent tendency of most boys to internalize their emotions. Many boys are sad, lonely, and confused, although they may appear tough on the exterior. In interviews with previous school shooters, they often shared the feeling that they had no other choice and that they had no one to talk to about their feelings.

Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefield, told reported that as Hribal was being apprehended he indicated, “He wanted someone to kill him.” Many previous mass killers have a history of failed suicide attempts. Although many of the attackers will commit the ultimate act of taking their own life, others have professed their willingness to be eliminated in the process of them executing their dark and destructive mission. In examining the lives of those involved in targeted violence, the Secret Service found that approximately two-thirds exhibited a history of at least one previous suicide attempt, and many were veterans of multiple attempts.

It appears that most of these individuals had no expectation to live beyond their day of recloning. Kip Kinkel, the Thurston High School shooter, taped two bullets to his chest and a knife to his leg to ensure his death at the end of his rampage. Kinkel was concerned that during his murderous spree, he would run out of bullets and would not be able to end his own life, so he had one bullet for each gun taped to his chest. However, he was subdued before he could finish his the job. While in custody, he pleaded with the detective to kill him. The recent Fort Hood shooter took his own life as police confronted him.

Are active shooter training sessions by police, more armed guards and enhanced security systems the most effective tools to combat school shooters? In a study conducted by Texas State University of 84 active shooter cases, nearly 50% of the active shooter incidents were resolved before the police arrived on scene. In 50% of those cases, the assailant committed suicide.

It is noteworthy that in 31% of the cases that were resolved prior to the arrival of law enforcement, the assailant was subdued by others. In the stabbing assault by Hribal, the vice-principal and a school security guard subdued him some five minutes after the attack began. Ironically, the vice-principal was also a neighbor of Hribal’s, living on the same street.

Annual spending on school security systems is projected to increase to nearly 5 billion dollars by 2017 according to HIS, a research firm. Almost every school district is spending huge amounts of tax dollars on improving school security, alert systems, employing more armed officers, and staging active shooter drills with tactically trained officers laying siege in practice scenarios. Despite these efforts, we are still seeing our children die as a result of school mass killers.

According to National School Safety and Security Services, there have been 120 prevented school attacks between 2000 and 2010. Many schools have successfully focused on behavioral threat assessments of students who have displayed worrisome behaviors. Early intervention is essential to preventing violence through training, anti-bullying programs and proactive mental health counseling.

Hribal’s attorney has asked for mental health evaluations and it is too early to speculate if this was a factor. In three-quarters of the school shootings, the shooters were identified as suffering from despair and had experienced a major failure leading to depression. For high school students, this period can be the most difficult time of their entire lives. Stephen King wrote in Guns, “…high school sucked when I went, probably sucks now. I tend to regard people who remember it as the best four years of their lives with caution and a degree of pity.”

Hribal did not “snap.” He removed two kitchen knives from his home and traveled the seven-and-a-half miles to his school with the intent of killing. Once there, he began his assault. In studies of members of the military who are required to kill, the farther soldiers are from their target, the easier they find the task of killing. Coming face-to-face with the victim, who may have not have demonstrated any malice towards the attacker, is the most difficult. Plunging the knife into the human body is not an easy task and is not unlike that of cutting through the skin of a fish or an uncooked roast while also coming into contact with bone. Hearing the screams of his victims, Hribal will no doubt be haunted by those images for the rest of his life, as will his victims and the witnesses to the carnage.

Please click here to view Mike Roche’s previous posts:

Columbia Mall Shooter Darion Aguilar Followed the Model of Notorious Mass Murderers

Peter Lanza Speaks: The Lethal and Unvarnished Truth about His Son Adam

FHP Officer Jimmy Fulford Fields Pipe Bomb Intended for Young Mother with His Bare Hands and Dies Instantly

Fire Department and California Highway Patrol Go 9 Rounds: Win, Lose or Draw?

The Boston Bombers: A Tale of Two Troubled Brothers

Don’t Text at the Movies, The Life You Lose May Be Your Own!

Killers and the Catcher in the Rye

Mike Roche has over three decades of law enforcement experience. He began his career with the Little Rock Police Department, and spent twenty-two years with the U.S. Secret Service. The last fifteen years of his career were focused on conducting behavioral threat assessments of those threatening to engage in targeted violence. He is the author of three novels and two nonfiction works on mass murder and also rapport building. Retired, Mike is currently a security consultant at Protective Threat LLC, and an adjunct instructor at Saint Leo University. He resides in Florida with his family.